All They Want for Christmas
by NaruDeeds
Summary: A year after the events of "All We Want for Christmas," all the couples Naruto and Sakura's age are starting to have children. Sakura's family and the entire village are eager for an Uzumaki baby... They're not alone; Naruto and Sakura have been trying to have a child and are starting to worry they may not be able. Will they get all they want for Christmas?
1. December 23

All right! This is the third and final "All I Want for Christmas" story. The first one was a dash of angst, followed by lots of fluff. The second one was lots of angst with a dash of fluff. I'm attempting to balance this one out, but like "All We Want for Christmas," it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Alright, enough blabbering. Onwards!_**  
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Note - this is a sequel, but it can still be read without reading the first two. BUT I recommend going back and reading "All I Want for Christmas" and "All We want for Christmas" before you read this one, as there are minor call backs to the first two stories in this one!

I don't own Naruto or else Naruto and co. would use the abominable snowman summon to take out the juubi. (Well, not really. But hey, gotta be a Christmas themed disclaimer right?)

Please do enjoy, "All They Want for Christmas: December 23"

* * *

_**TING!**_

A suna nin's kunai was blocked by the strangely flawless white blade of a dagger as snow lightly fluttered down from the sky.

"Come on; your promotion to jonin is on the line. You shouldn't have challenged me if this is the best you can do." The suna nin's opponent said. Sparse sunlight glinted off the silver plate on the man's black forehead protector. He was wearing an orange flack jacket with a black undershirt, black ninja pants, black boots and an orange cloak with black flames at the bottom. What made the cloak really stand out however, was the kanji for "Uzumaki" proudly displayed on its back.

"I'm just getting started, you're not as tough as they say Hokage-sama!" The suna nin shot back. He leaped backwards, putting distance between himself and the Hokage.

"Confidence is good." The Hokage said with a smile on his face. "But arrogance is dangerous." He proceeded to unsheathe a matching dagger from his side.

"I'm not arrogant; I know I can beat you!"

"You seem arrogant. You should know my what my primary element is, you should know what these two daggers are, and you should know what I can do with them. _That_ should worry you."

"I'm not scared of two decorative daggers!"

"Decorative? Well... I guess I can see how you'd say that. They are beautiful." The Hokage admitted as he stared at the beautiful golden hilts of his daggers. The one in his left hand had cherry blossoms imprinted on the hilt, while the hilt of the dagger in his right hand had a kitsune imprinted on it.

"They're far from decorative though... These are two of the finest chakra blades in all of fire country." The Hokage grinned. "A gift from my father-in-law."

"Why would that worry me?"

"Because... Naruto is a wind user." A man with red hair and thick lines around his teal eyes observing the fight said. "Once he channels his wind element into those daggers your kunai will be useless."

"Gaara's right." Naruto chuckled. Green light suddenly started swirling around his blades, making a high-pitched buzzing noise. "So, you're in a battle with an opponent who is stronger than you, and your primary weapons won't work. I know what a jonin would do in this situation, but the question is, what will you do?

"I'll beat you with ninjutsu!" The sand ninja yelled. He flashed through a series of quick handsigns with a cocky smirk on his face.

"Wind Release: Blade of Wind!" The ninja slashed at Naruto with his wind blade.

"Not smart." Naruto sighed. He easily dodged the attack, flickered behind his opponent and held one of the buzzing daggers against the man's neck.

"So fast." The ninja gasped. "How did you do that?"

"I wasn't even going full speed." Naruto grinned. "Gaara, care to tell him what a jonin would've done in that situation?"

"A jonin would have recognized the differences in strength and realized he couldn't win in a straight-up fight. He would've relied on traps and deception to try and gain an advantage instead of attacking head-on." Gaara lectured.

"Agreed! You definitely have potential, but you need to better learn to assess the situation before I would recommend Gaara promote you to jonin." Naruto said as he removed his chakra dagger from the man's neck and re-sheathed both daggers.

"I agree with the Hokage's assessment. I'm sorry Jiro, but you're not ready to be a jonin yet."

"I understand. I'm sorry for challenging you Hokage-sama. Thank you for your assessment Kazekage-sama, Hokage-sama." The man known as Jiro somberly said with a disappointed frown on his face.

"Why are you apologizing? I would've done the exact same thing in your position! A ninja's gotta have guts." Naruto said as he clapped the Jiro on the back. "Once you can better assess the situation you'll do fine!"

"Well, that was a fun way to kick these jonin exams off. Does anyone else want to follow Jiro's lead here and have me as their opponent?"

The remaining Konoha and Suna nin who were waiting to be tested looked away nervously. After seeing how quickly Naruto moved, none of them were eager to take him on.

"No? How about Gaara? He looks a little bored... Well, he always looks bored."

Again, no response. All the gathered nin knew about Gaara's ultimate defense and none of them wanted to have to figure out a way around it to obtain their jonin promotions.

"Fine." Naruto huffed. "Alright, next two step up then!"

"That was interesting." Gaara said as Naruto walked up to him.

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting to be challenged by anyone. But that was a lot of fun." Naruto grinned.

"I had a feeling Jiro was going to challenge you. While we were traveling here, he kept on boasting he was going to make Suna proud by defeating Konoha's best."

"Oh? During one of the thousand days it took you guys to get here?" Naruto teased.

"I already apologized for being late." Gaara sighed. "Temari..."

"Don't go blaming me Gaara!" Temari grinned. "We were late because Gaara here found out that he's going to be a dad."

"WHAT?!" Naruto gasped. "Matsuri's pregnant?"

"Yes." A small smile ghosted over Gaara's face. "She waited until she was sure to tell me, but we left a day late because I wanted to celebrate."

"Damnit! That's a great reason to be late! I can't give you crap now." Naruto whined. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks. I was actually hoping you would be my son or daughter's godfather."

"Me?! But I'm from Konoha, are you sure that's what you want?"

"It would demonstrate the power of the bond between our villages politically." Gaara pointed out. "But more importantly, yes. You've had a profound impact on my life. If something happens to me, I know you would do the same for my children."

"What about Temari or Kankuro?"

"We've already been over this. Kankuro and I are going to have dibs on the next kids." Temari sighed.

"If you're sure this is what you want, then I would be honored Gaara."

"Good."

"OH COME ON!" A Suna nin groaned causing Naruto to smile wryly. While they had been talking, a Suna and Konoha nin had started their match. The particular Konoha nin that was his opponent was none other than Konohamaru; an avid user of the shadow clone jutsu.

"Ok ok, here I am for real this time." Konohamaru taunted. The Suna nin leaped towards him with kunai in hand. Konohamaru dodged the first three swipes before the Suna nin's kunai dug into his shoulder. Instead of crying out in pain, Konohamaru laughed and disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"DAMNIT! I HATE THIS JUTS...ACK!" The man was cut off as he was suddenly pulled down into the ground.

"It's pretty useful though." Konohamaru grinned. "As is the headhunter jutsu."

"Very good Konohamaru." Naruto complimented.

"You didn't take that fight seriously enough Soren." Gaara said. "You should not have let yourself get frustrated by the jutsu so much. The Shadow Clone jutsu has weaknesses just like any other jutsu. A jonin would have searched for its weakness instead of getting frustrated."

"Hai Kazekage-sama."

"Next!" Gaara called. Another pair of Suna and Konoha nins stepped up and bowed to each other in respect, and then flickered away as they began their battle.

"So where's Sakura?" Temari asked as the kages watched the fight. "I'm surprised she let you out of Konoha by yourself."

"Well, she had a few words to say with my personal guards here." Naruto pointed over to the people who had accompanied him.

"Words? Those weren't words; those were threats! Terrifying threats..." Kiba shivered.

"I don't want to repeat everything she said... but it's safe to say that if anything happens to Naruto here, we will all be spending a considerable amount of time in the hospital... if we're lucky." Kakashi chuckled.

"Sounds like her." Temari laughed. "Why didn't she come?"

"She said she had stuff to do in the village." Naruto answered. Just one year ago that would have freaked Naruto out, but their marriage had grown stronger and stronger every day after they had agreed to work together. He didn't even blink an eye when Sakura said she wasn't going to go with him for the jonin exams. He was sad that he had to spend time without her, but he didn't worry about what she was doing.

"She probably needs to get her Christmas shopping done, you two are connected at the hip!" Kiba teased.

"We are not..." Naruto mumbled, although he knew that was a slight lie.

"So are we going to have two kages that are going to be Dad's soon?" Temari smirked.

"Well..." Naruto started.

"If the villagers have anything to say about it they will." Kiba grinned.

"Yeah, it seems like everyone my age is getting pregnant. Sakura's family, and the rest of the villagers in general are really eager for us to join them."

"And are you going to be anytime soon?" Temari pressed.

"No comment." Naruto smirked.

"You're no fun Naruto." Temari whined.

"I think we're here to assess our chunins and see if they're ready to be promoted." Naruto grinned. "We don't have time to talk about this. Right Kazekage-sama?"

Gaara simply rolled his eyes at his friend as they continued to watch the fights.

* * *

Sakura Haruno sat on a bed wearing a hospital gown with both a nervous and annoyed look on her face. She hated wearing these stupid hospital gowns, and didn't really see why Ino made her wear one... But Sakura knew what a pain patients who didn't do as their doctor said could be, and didn't want to cause any additional stress for her friend who was pregnant with her second child.

She crossed her arms at the thought. Ino was already on her second kid, and Sakura might not even be able to... well...

"Alright Forehead, sorry for making you wait." Ino said as she entered the door. Sakura had never been so relieved to have a distraction from her thoughts.

"It's ok. I don't want a woman in your condition to be hurrying around."

"My condition? Please. Akio isn't due for nearly a month. I'm fine!"

"Oh of course. How silly of me to think otherwise." Sakura teased.

"Hey, you're going to be just like me whenever you get pregnant and you know it!"

"IF I can get pregnant." Sakura muttered quietly, casting her eyes to the ground.

"Oh come on, you're fine." Ino said in a reassuring tone. "You guys have only been..."

"I know Ino!" Sakura groaned, interrupting her friend. "I know that Naruto and I have only been trying for a month, and I know that it can take couples months, even years to get pregnant... But what if it's me? What will I tell Naruto? What will I tell my parents? Hell, what will I tell the villagers. It seems like everyone is eagerly waiting for an Uzumaki baby! I..."

"Relax Sakura." Ino soothed as she rubbed her friend's back. "We're going to run every test both you and I can think of to put you at ease. And if it turns out that you can't conceive, you know that everyone will understand. Naruto will still love you and you guys can adopt a cute little kid. Besides, no one knows that you guys are even trying. I'm the only one you've told."

"I know..." Sakura mumbled. "I just..."

"Stop. No need to stress out about this Sakura. We have some tests to run so you can stop freaking out about stupid little things.

Sakura gulped, but nodded her head. It was time to get an answer regarding her greatest fear over the past couple of weeks...

* * *

The clang of kunai sounded across the field as another Konoha and Suna nin went at each other in an attempt to prove they were worthy of being jonins. So far, only three Konoha nins and four Suna nins had been promoted.

The promotions were ultimately the decision of each individual kage, but they offered their assessments of each other's forces freely.

"Man, Shiro is pissed Naruto." Kiba said, pointing over to a chunin who had won his fight, but been denied his promotion. To make matters worse, the opponent that he beat had demonstrated enough to earn the jonin promotion.

"He had an advantage in strength, chakra and speed over his opponent. It shouldn't have been a difficult fight for him." Naruto shook his head.

"I admit, I felt bad for Kai when was paired up with that one." Gaara added. "I didn't think he stood much of a chance."

"Yeah, he impressed me with his resourcefulness. He kept in a fight that he really had no business being in."

"Is there any way to speed these fights up?" Temari groaned. "You guys had to go and schedule this a day before Christmas Eve."

"Both my and Naruto's schedules were very full; this was the only date that worked for both of us." Gaara pointed out.

"Yeah, it kind of sucks, but we can't not do this. We can always use new jonins." Naruto added. "Just be glad we picked a spot closer to Suna. It should only take you guys a day to get home right?"

"Exactly. That's why I want to get this show on the road. I'd like to be home by Christmas! We can't use hirashin to get back to our village like you can." Temari sighed.

"We must do our part and give each candidate ample amount of time to display if they deserve the promotion or not." Gaara said. "Believe me, I'd rather be home with Matsuri, but as Naruto said, we need the new jonins."

"I know... Let's just plan this out better next year! Pick a date now so you can schedule around it later!"

"Eh... planning stuff that far out isn't really my thing. You need to talk to Sakura about that." Naruto scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

"You're the leader of your village! Planning stuff far out is kind of your job!"

"That's one definiton." Naruto countered.

"Kami I don't know how Konoha can function with you leading them Naruto." Temari sighed.

"We're _that_ good." Kiba grinned.

"Hey! I'm your Hokage!" Naruto pouted.

"You will always be the idiot who was only able to beat me by farting." Kiba laughed.

"Oh yeah? Let's see if that changes after you and I spar."

"OH YEAH, I WON!" Naruto looked over to see one of his nin celebrating and sighed. He didn't look underneath the underneath and failed realize he was in a genjutsu.

"That's an impressive genjutsu your guy has there Gaara. Tothe should still be able to at least figure out he's in it... but still an impressive one nonetheless."

"Don't write this Tothe off yet." Gaara said. Just as the Suna nin was about to take out Tothe with a quick chop, Tothe weaved to the right and caught the genjutsu user upside the head with a powerful roundhouse.

"Looks like he realized he was in a genjutsu after all." Kakashi smiled.

"Alright alright, good work." Temari called. "NEXT!"

The remaining shinobi looked at Gaara and Naruto for confirmation, since they were technically in charge. Both kages shook their heads in agreement... They wouldn't say it out loud, but they both agreed with Temari. They wanted to return home to spend time with their loved ones as soon as possible.

* * *

There were few things Sakura disliked more than waiting. The two hours she had spent in the room Ino had assigned her was driving her nuts. She knew Ino was just doing her due diligence, but waiting for so long was torture.

There was nothing on TV, so the only thing for Sakura to do was think about the test results and what she would have to do if they confirmed her fears. She felt sick at the thought of the disappointment Naruto would inevitably hide when she told him she couldn't have children.

He wouldn't want her to know he was disappointed, and he would of course comfort her and tell her it wasn't a big deal and they could adopt. But Naruto was the son of the legendary Yondaime Hokage, and was one of the few remaining Uzumakis left in the world. Even though he would never admit it, she knew that deep down he wanted to continue that line.

The door opened, and for the second time in the day, Sakura could have hugged Ino for providing her with a distraction from her thoughts.

"Took you long enough Pig." Sakura joked weakly.

"I seem to remember you saying a woman in my condition shouldn't be rushed." Ino shot back, and like a truly professional doctor, stuck her tongue out at Sakura for good measure.

"So?"

"Well..." The playful look on Ino's face was replaced by a serious one. "I just want you to know I ran EVERY test and looked at the results multiple times to make sure about this... Sakura... are you sure you want to know?"

"Oh kami..." Sakura muttered as a pit formed in her stomach. That couldn't be good! Her sneaking fear was right, she was infertile... How the hell was she going to break this to Naruto? She lowered her head and frowned.

"...Let me hear it Ino."

"Ok Sakura... After doing every single test both you and I could think of, I can say with 100 percent certainty that... YOU'RE FINE!"

Sakura's head snapped up in shock. "What?"

"Like I told you before, you were worrying about nothing. Actually, you're in _really_ good shape. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time for the two of you."

"But...but you were so serious..."

"A little theatrics never hurt anyone." Ino grinned. "I couldn't resist playing with you."

"If you weren't pregnant right now I would rip out your throat..." Sakura growled in annoyance. Ino had let her worry for nothing!

"No need for that! Focus on what I just said; you have nothing to worry about. You are actually quite fertile. So not only is it likely just a matter of time until you two get pregnant, but you have an excuse to keep screwing your hunk of a husband's brains out!"

"Ino!" Sakura blushed. "Don't say it like that!"

"That's what you're going to do right?"

"That's beside the point!" Sakura snapped as relief flooded through her body. It wasn't her, she wasn't going to disappoint her husband, her parents and her entire village. She started to smile when a new thought entered her head...

What if it was Naruto? What if he was the one who couldn't have kids? That would completely devastate him...

"Frowning already?" Ino sighed. "What now Forehead?"

"What if... what if Naruto's the infertile one." Sakura voiced her new fear.

"It's only been one month Sakura; give it more time." Ino sighed.

"But what if it's Naruto...I'm sure he's secretly worried about it."

"Then you guys adopt. I wouldn't think that would bother you all that much."

"It wouldn't... I'm just worried about what it would do to Naruto."

"Have him get tested when he gets back." Ino said.

"But what if..."

"You were nervous about getting tested, and how did it turn out for you?"

"Very good, but it could be..."

"It could also turn out the same and neither of you would have to deal with that worry anymore. And you know that stress doesn't make things any easier for pregnancies."

"You're right... I'll talk to him when we deliver presents to the orphans."

"How is he giving presents with you? Isn't he still at the jonin exams?"

Sakura tapped on her engagement ring with a smile on her face. "One of the many perks of having a husband who knows the hirashin."

* * *

Naruto and Gaara watched as a Konoha jonin hopeful ducked under a blow from her jonin opponent and launched a quick counter attack to his gut before following it up with a powerful uppercut.

"Her fighting style almost reminds me of your wife's." Gaara noted. "She's dodged practically everything Kenshi has thrown at her and does most of her damage in close quarters."

"Good observation Gaara." Naruto smirked. "Kiyo doesn't have good enough chakra control to use advanced medical jutsus, and she can't use Sakura and Tsunade's enhanced strength abilities, but she kept bothering Sakura for weeks until she finally agreed to train her. She can use medical jutsus well enough for field work though."

"Interesting. Kenshi struggles when he isn't in control of the pace of the fight and genjutsus aren't his strength. It sounds like this Kiyo is his worst possible opponent."

"He's doing pretty well against her though." Naruto pointed out. His eyes widened when he felt a familiar pull alerting him that his wife was calling for him.

"Hey, I'm going to need to take a break real quick after this match."

"What? Come on! No breaks, the sooner we get this done the better!" Temari protested.

"What's the problem?" Gaara asked.

"Sakura-chan is calling. For the past couple of years, we've delivered presents to all the kids at the Konoha orphanage on the 23rd. I'll just flash to her, help her hand out the gifts and flash back here. Won't take me more than ten minutes!"

"Damn you Naruto..." Temari grumbled. "You make it so hard to be angry at you."

"That's an idea I just might take from you Naruto." Gaara said with a small smile on his face.

"That's the point of our alliance right? We share our best ideas." Naruto grinned.

Kenshi suddenly lurched forward, with a speed he had yet to use in the fight, and caught Kiyo upside the head with a haymaker that sent her staggering. He followed up with a quick windblast jutsu to knock her off her feet.

"You fought well," Kenshi complimented as he swirled wind around his fist. "But our fight is finished!" He leaped into the air to deliver the final blow, but Kiyo rolled to the right to dodge his fist at the last second, braced her hands against the ground and landed a quick kick to Kenshi's head.

Kenshi caught himself just as Kiyo neared and both landed a clean punch on the others' cheek that sent them both sprawling backwards.

"Wow. I wasn't expecting that. They both did awesome!" Naruto said with a proud smile on his face.

"I'm curious on your assessment Naruto. Neither of them won, but neither of them lost."

"Well, Kenshi did a good job at figuring out this wasn't his ideal matchup quickly and purposefully held back some speed so he could use it to catch his opponent off guard and quickly end the fight with that weird wind fist technique. Kiyo controlled the fight almost the entire time and managed to maintain her composure when Kenshi showed his hand. I think they both demonstrated they are worthy of being jonin."

"Agreed. I'm sure they'll be excited whenever they wake up."

"Alright everyone, we're going to take a quick ten minute break. I'll be back shortly!" Naruto announced.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to accompany you Naruto." Gaara said.

"Of course! We'll be back shortly." Naruto put a hand on Gaara's arm, focused on his wife's ring and disappeared in a flash.

* * *

"Are you sure Hokage-sama is coming?" A little boy, with two missing teeth asked impatiently.

"He's coming." Sakura reassured. "Hokage-sama is busy right now. He'll be here as soon as he can." Just as she said that she felt her ring heat up as the seal was activated.

The sound of the hirashin suddenly went off in the orphanage and Naruto and Gaara flashed into view.

"Kazekage-sama, it's good to see you." Sakura greeted with a smile.

"And me too right?"

"Eh... I see you everyday." Sakura teased as she looped her arm around her husband's arms.

"Ouch Sakura-chan."

"Good to see you too Sakura."

"HOKAGE-SAMA!" The children gathered around Naruto with excited grins.

"Hey kids, I'd like you all to meet my friend Gaara. He's the Kazekage of Suna."

"Kazekage?" One of the smaller children asked.

"I'm like the Hokage of my village." Gaara smiled.

"SO COOL!" The kids yelled.

"Nice cloak and hat by the way Sakura-chan." Naruto winked. She was wearing her usual outfit, but topped it off with his white cloak that was like his father's, and his Christmas hat he wore every year. The sack that contained all of the sealed presents was slung comfortably over her shoulder.

"Someone needed to step up and dress festively since you can't." Sakura winked back.

"Alright, WHO'S READY FOR PRESENTS?" Naruto yelled, getting a cheer from all the gathered children.

Sakura poured the scrolls containing the presents out of the sack and Gaara, Naruto and Sakura quickly unsealed them all.

Gaara watched with a smile as Naruto and Sakura handed each child their presenet.

"I'm surpised they're waiting to open them." Gaara said to the old woman who he assumed was running the orphanage.

"Hokage-sama likes to have them open their presents one at a time, from youngest to oldest."

"A good idea."

"Alright kids, you know the drill!" Naruto said once Sakura handed out the final gift. They joined Gaara and the old woman and watched with smiles on their faces as the kids opened their gifts one by one.

"By the way, you look way better in that cloak and hat than I do." Naruto murmured in Sakura's ear.

"Shhh. You can compliment me later." Sakura rolled her eyes. "But I do need to talk to you, just me and you. How long can you stay?"

"We're going back right after this. We're trying to get through the exams as quickly as possible so the Suna people can make it back for Christmas. Is this a long, 'we need to work on something' talk?"

"No, nothing like that." Sakura laughed lightly. "It won't take long, can you give me a few minutes?"

"Always Sakura."

Nothing else was said as they watched as the rest of the kids opened their gifts. The kids were obviously eager to start playing with their gifts, but instead they gathered together and stood in front of the old woman.

"What do you say children?" The old woman prompted.

"Thank you Hokage-sama, Sakura-sama!" The kids chimed in perfect unison. They definitely practiced it this year.

"You're welcome kids." Sakura smiled.

"Have fun!" Naruto added.

"You can't stay Hokage-sama?" One of the kids asked.

"Unfortunately not this year. The Kazekage and I have some important business to attend to that will make both of our villages stronger!"

"You're welcome to return with us Sakura if you are free." Gaara invited.

"Nah, I'm going to stay and play with the kids." Sakura said, causing the kids to cheer. She inwardly smirked; last year Naruto had accidentally made her a villain in these kids eyes, but this year she was the one they were cheering for.

"I suppose we should return then Naruto."

"Just a second, Sakura needs to speak to me real quick." Naruto wrapped his arm around Sakura's waist and led her to an unused room.

"So what's up?" He asked nonchalantly. There wasn't a hint of nervousness in his voice, which just made Sakura's smile grow even larger. Last year when she told him she wanted to talk to him about something he got so scared that he got drunk with his friends instead. She was grateful they had managed to make it through that shaky time in their marriage.

"Well... I went to the doctor this morning."

"What?! Are you ok? Did something happen? If..."

"Relax." Sakura chuckled, cutting Naruto off. "Kami you're so overprotective."

"If something happens to you while I'm away..."

"I'm fine Naruto." Sakura assured. "It wasn't anything pain related. So don't worry." A look of relief flashed over her husband's face.

"I actually went because I was starting to get worried... We've been trying to have a baby for a month and still haven't gotten anywhere. So I started to worry that maybe it was me, maybe I was infertile."

"WHAT? Sakura you said it's fairly common for it to take months or even years! Why would you..mmph."

Sakura cut Naruto off by pressing a finger against his lips.

"I know it was stupid, but it was still worrying me. So I had myself tested and found out that I'm not infertile, I'm actually the opposite."

A brief flash of worry flashed over Naruto's face before being replaced with a giant grin. "That's great news Sakura. I could have told you that you have nothing to worry about."

"I know." Sakura smiled. "And I know that you've been probably worrying about it being you too. Patience has never been your strength."

"I..." Truthfully, Naruto had worried that maybe it was him. He always sorta thought that once they started trying for a baby it would happen quickly. He tried continuously telling himself what Sakura told him; it was normal for it to take couple's a while. But it wasn't enough.

Naruto couldn't stop himself from secretly worrying that maybe he couldn't have children because of the demon inside him. He was the first male jinchuriki of the Kyubi, and no one had ever really cared enough about jinchurikis in the past to do any research on the matter... A pair of soft hands enveloped his own and Naruto looked into his wife's caring emerald eyes.

"I know you worry, and I can't tell you how great it feels not to have to worry. I think you should get yourself tested when you get back."

"What if..."

"Then we'll adopt, and we'll love that child."

"Don't you want..."

"Hey, if I don't have to push a child out down there I'm not going to complain." Sakura joked. "I would never get fat and moody, AND we wouldn't have to be careful ever again when getting intimate."

"Leave it to you to find the bright points of a crappy situation." Naruto laughed.

"I learned from the best." Sakura smiled. "If you really don't want to do it yet, then don't. I'm sure we're fine. But knowing that there are no problems with me lifted a huge weight off my shoulders, and I think it would do the same for you."

"You're right." Naruto sighed. "I'll go in tomorrow. Do I need to make an appointment for that sort of thing?"

"You're the Hokage; you don't need to make appointments. I'll make sure you have one though."

"Thanks." There was a hint of nervousness in Naruto's voice. Sakura understood his nervousness quite well, having just gone through it.

"Hey... no matter what happens you will still be my husband, and I will still be extremely grateful for that." To send her point home, she leaned up and gave him a quick peck on the lips. She was relieved to see a soft smile on his face as she pulled away. That look fit him much better than a nervous look.

"Thanks Sakura."

"Now get going! I don't want you holding up the jonin exams any longer for my sake!"

"Hai Sakura-sama." Naruto mock-saluted earning him a giggle. The two rejoined everyone in the main room where Gaara was looking on in amusement as the orphans played together.

"Alright Gaara, let's head back."

Gaara simply nodded as Naruto put a hand on his arm before the two disappeared in a flash.

"Sakura-sama, come play with me!"

"NO! We get to play with Sakura-sama!"

"Sakura-sama is definitely going to play with us, BELIEVE IT!"

"Stop arguing kids." Sakura laughed. "I've made sure to keep my schedule free for the rest of the day so I can spend plenty of time with all of you."

* * *

The sun was setting behind Gaara and Naruto as they stood in front of the group of chunins they had brought with them for the jonin exams.

"The Hokage and I each brought 20 candidates we felt were prepared for the opportunity to achieve jonin status." Gaara said. "Our villages now have nine, and eight new jonins respectively. I offer my congratulations to all of you who have earned the title."

"For those of you who didn't, don't get discouraged." Naruto went on. "We hope that you realized today that the title of jonin isn't earned easily. You need to be a complete shinobi to earn that title. Some of you won your matches through sheer strength alone, but weren't promoted. Some of you lost your matches, but showed the grit, resolve and craftiness of a jonin and were promoted. These fights were never about winners and losers, they were about assessing whether you displayed the skills and thinking capabilities of a jonin. For each of you that failed, we would like to give you a challenge."

"Prove us wrong." Gaara said with a smile on his face. "Over the course of this next year, prove to us that you deserve to be jonin. Think about why you failed this time and improve."

"Come back next year and make Gaara and I regret not promoting you sooner."

By the time their speech was finished, the faces of the non-promoted, which were originally a varying array of disappointed and angry frowns, were now set with determined grins.

"To all of my Suna comrades, may your journey back be quick and safe. Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year." Naruto said.

"To all of my Konoha comrades, enjoy your families and I hope you have great holidays." The chunin and new jonin nodded their heads in thanks towards the two village leaders before forming up to leave.

"Well, that was fun." Naruto grinned as he turned to Gaara. "Though I wish more would have challenged me."

"Maybe we'll make it a requirement that a set amount of them have to challenge us next year." Gaara mused.

"Hah! So you wanted to have some fun too!"

"I never said I didn't." Gaara countered, his stoic face lifted slightly in a smile.

"Well, have a great Christmas Gaara, Temari. I'm sure I'll see you soon enough."

"You do the same Naruto."

"And let us know when we can expect an Uzumaki baby." Temari teased. "Maybe if you and Gaara's kid are opposite genders we'll have a big cross-village marriage in a few years."

"I'd have to have a boy then, because if I have a daughter she's never getting married." Naruto grinned.

"Well, we need to be off. See you, Hokage-sama."

"Have a fun walk back Kazekage-sama. I'm going to be back in my village in a few minutes thanks to the hirashin!"

"We'll just have to have next year's exams in Suna then next year." Gaara smirked over his shoulder. He motioned for his delegation to follow, and walked away.

"Alright everyone, link together in a circle." Naruto commanded. Once his entire force was linked together, Naruto tapped into Kurama's chakra. Transporting this many people was going to take a lot.

"If you haven't hirashined with me before, close your eyes. It can be a bit much for first timers." Naruto closed his eyes and focused on the three-pronged kunai he kept in his office.

"Now let's all get back to our families. Here we go!"

The group of Konoha nin disappeared from the clearing in a flash.

* * *

Sakura was laying on the couch in her and Naruto's apartment, thankful for the silence. Spending her entire day with the orphan children had been fun, touching and uplifting all in one... But it had also been exhausting. Those kids had so much energy they managed to wear her out... and she was an elite kunoichi! She wondered how the old woman who ran the orphanage managed...

Her wonderful silence was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, but Sakura didn't mind. She sat up with a happy smile because she knew there was only one person who could be walking through that door.

"So how did it go?"

"Konoha has nine new jonin, and 11 determined chunin." Naruto answered with a proud smile.

"And Kiyo? Did she win?"

"Nope! But she didn't lose either. Her fight was awesome. Both she and her opponent were promoted."

"Well of course her fight was awesome, I trained her." Sakura crowed proudly.

"I wasn't surprised." Naruto agreed as he wrapped his arms around his wife. "You're pretty amazing."

"Sucking up I see?" Sakura stuck her tongue out. "Now why would you be doing that?"

"Well I hear my wife is very fertile, and she and I are trying for a baby..." Naruto smirked.

"Oh is that what you hear? What are you suggesting Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked with a deceptively innocent smile on her face.

"Well there's a very comfortable bed in our bedroom we could celebrate properly in..." Naruto murmured before leaning down and kissing Sakura.

"That sounds pretty nice." Sakura murmured back. She pulled away from Naruto, grabbed his hand and led the way to their bedroom swaying her hips the entire way.

* * *

Alright! Next chapter is coming out tomorrow, and the final one will be coming out Christmas day. Be sure to check back then for updates, and as always, you are more than welcome to review =)


	2. December 24

Next part! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Eve! Review responses are now following the story.

Thanks to all who reviewed so far: Naruto Sakura Uzumaki, keyblade1984, Gundam27, The Keeper of Worlds, kidloco, ROB24DOG, Zatheko, Minato 0077, bankai777, ninaxw, Cloud Ex-SOLDIER

Standard disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and the orphan scenes from last chapter and the earlier stories would be in an actual manga chapter!

Please do enjoy, "All They Want for Christmas: December 24"

* * *

Naruto sighed as he stared at the white walls surrounding him. He absolutely hated this place, yet he found himself here more often than not. To make matters worse, Ino was making him wear a stupid hospital gown. He argued with her that as Hokage, he didn't need to wear one, but Ino threatened to tell his wife he was being disruptive.

Sakura simply did not tolerate his bad behavior in hospital, and she put up with even less after they had gotten married. If Ino told Sakura he was being disruptive... well he wouldn't have a very good Christmas Eve to say the least.

So Naruto found himself sitting in a hospital room, in an uncomfortable hospital gown, all alone. Sakura had offered to come with him but he didn't want her to. If she faced this alone then he should face it alone too.

He let his mind wander back to last night in an effort to keep his thoughts away from his fear. Every night spent with Sakura was a good night... but now that they were trying to have a baby, every night spent with Sakura was _that_ much better; last night was no different.

The door swung open before Naruto could delve further into his memories of last night and Ino walked in with a small, clear cup in hand.

"Good morning Hokage-sama, welcome back." Ino casually greeted as if she were just meeting Naruto out on the street.

"No need to refer to me by my title Ino; we're friends."

"So how did the jonin exams go?"

"They were interesting. We almost had a 50 percent promotion rate, nine out of the 20 we took proved they were ready."

"And that's good?" Ino quirked her eyebrow. She had been one of ten people selected to take the jonin exams, and all ten of the people that took them earned their promotion.

"Gaara only had eight." Naruto grinned. "It's good though. We lit a fire under those who didn't get promoted, so we'll have some of the strongest chunin ever this year."

"I'll take your word for it. Now, just to be clear, you know why you're here right? I wouldn't put it past Sakura to just tell you that you have a doctor's appointment and send you here without any further information."

"I'm here to make sure that... I can have children." Naruto gulped.

"And I'm sure you've already heard how long it can take for couples to get pregnant?"

"I have... but I'm a jinchuriki. Things are probably different for me."

"Your mom had you and she was a jinchuriki at the time, right?"

"Yeah... but she was a woman. It could be..."

"That's why you're here." Ino cut Naruto off. "So we can eliminate every 'could be' and 'what if,' I'm sure you'll find out that you're fine."

"So eh... how does this work exactly?"

"You do your thing and get me a sample in this cup here. It's not that complicated."

"Right here? By myself?"

"Well I'm not helping you perv." Ino teased.

"I wouldn't want your help!" Naruto quickly clarified.

"Oh really now?" Ino growled. "And why's that? Hmm? Too fat for you? Well newsflash asshole, I'm PREG..."

"NO!" Naruto quickly interrupted Ino before she destroyed him with her pregnant rage. "It's nothing like that. I would just never want help with anything like that by anyone but Sakura. She's the only one I ever want to... you know."

"Well you could've brought her along you know idiot." Ino smirked. "If you want, I can send someone to bring her here."

"No no no! I... She faced this alone, so I will face this alone."

"How noble." Ino rolled her eyes. "Ok, I'll get out of here and give you some privacy. There's some Icha Icha books on that corner shelf. Just yell for me once you're done." Ino spun around and walked out of the room leaving Naruto to himself.

He stared at the door that had just clicked shut warily. How embarrassing would it be if someone just barged in while he was doing his thing... He quickly shifted around so his back was to the door. This way, if someone walked in, they wouldn't be able to see what he was doing.

"Ok... here we go." Naruto muttered nervously. He tried to think of anything to get himself...excited, but the giant pit that had suddenly formed in his stomach wasn't going to have it.

"Come on Naruto... this is the easy part. Come on..." Naruto was just too nervous to do anything.

The door suddenly swung open, causing Naruto to panic.

"Hey! Busy in here!"

"Relax Naruto, it's just me." Sakura's soothing voice calmed Naruto down.

"S-Sakura? What are you doing here?" Naruto stammered, turning his head to see his wife smiling at him.

"It sucked facing this alone, and I don't want you to."

"Thank kami." Naruto sighed in relief. "I'm so nervous..."

"I can do a few things to help." Sakura cooed as she shot Naruto a sultry smile. "Relax and let me help you take care of this Na-ru-to."

Naruto thanked kami for his wife as she sauntered up to him to "help."

* * *

"Gah, why did we decide we want to have a kid again?" Naruto groaned. With Sakura's "help," he was easily able to get the sample Ino needed. That was the fun part.

Now he had been sitting here waiting for what seemed like days for Ino to return.

"Seeing all of our friends starting families made us realize that we were ready to start our own." Sakura smiled softly at her husband, deciding to humor him even though it was probably a rhetorical question.

"I know..." Naruto sighed. "It was so much better before we decided though, when I didn't have to worry about this..."

"You won't have to worry much longer."

"What will we do if I...can't?" Naruto quietly asked.

"You know what we'll do, we'll adopt a child to call our own."

"But...how are we going to choose? What if some of the kids at the orphanage feel betrayed? What will the villagers say when it gets out that their leader can't have children? I mean... what kind of...mmph!"

Sakura decided to shut Naruto up the best way she knew how - with a kiss.

"You can't just kiss these problems away you know!" Naruto half-halfheartedly protested as she pulled away. "This is a serious probl...mmph!" He was silenced by a second kiss. A large grin was on Naruto's face as the two pulled apart.

"Seriously, what are we going to do if..."

"You're just trying to get me to kiss you again aren't you?" Sakura interrupted Naruto with an amused smile on her face.

"It's a real concern! But... maybe." Naruto admitted.

"It's not something we need to worry about yet. And there are other ways to get me to kiss you."

"Oh?"

"Mmhmm." Sakura hummed, winking at her husband. She leaned in to kiss Naruto a third time, but pulled away at the last second with a mischievous look on her face.

"Aww come on Sakura." Naruto pouted.

"Did you really think you could try to manipulate me into kissing you without any repercussions?"

"You're no fun!" The two sat in companionable silence for a few seconds before Naruto spoke up in a soft voice.

"It's funny how big of a difference a year can make, eh?"

"Kids were the last thing on our mind at this time last year." Sakura agreed.

"Even after we fixed us, they were still the last thing we wanted. You and your mom practically beat the crap out of your dad for pestering us about it!"

"We did." Sakura giggled. "But he had it coming."

"I doubt your mom would agree now."

"Oh the days when Mom wasn't joining dad in pestering us about grandchildren." Sakura sighed wistfully. Kaori Haruno had been on Sakura's side for the longest time, trusting that her daughter would have children when she was ready.

Then she found out that Sakura was the only kunoichi of their group who had not decided to start a family... and so ended Kaori Haruno's days of patiently waiting for grandchildren.

"I think she's worse than your dad now. Remember that fertility idol she got me for my birthday?"

"Ugh... don't remind me of that monstrosity." Sakura shivered. A traveling merchant came to Konoha at the end of September touting all sorts of ridiculous crap he claimed had magical powers. Her mom took notice of a small, dark brown statue of an overly rotund woman sitting in a meditative position. The merchant claimed it was a fertility idol and all a couple had to do was keep it in their bedroom and they would have children the second they tried.

"Seriously... that statue was WAY too detailed..." Naruto muttered.

"She means well though..." Sakura sighed.

"I just hope I don't have to tell her that I...mmph!" Yet again, Sakura cut her husband off with a quick kiss.

"I thought there were repercussions for me trying to get kisses out of you?" Naruto smirked.

"Oh... there will be repercussions Hokage-sama." Sakura cooed. "Serious repercussions."

"Ah I think it's worth it." Naruto smirked. "Scratch that, I know that it is definitely worth it!"

Sakura leaned in to give Naruto another kiss when Ino suddenly walked through the door.

"Jeez, you two are like rabbits." Ino sighed. "It hasn't even been an hour since you two last had sex."

"I don't know what you're talking about! And stop being so crass!" Sakura huffed with an embarrassed look on her face.

"You aren't as quiet as you think Sakura..." Ino rolled her eyes. "Everyone in this wing knows exactly what you two did after you helped Naruto get his sample."

"Didn't we cast a sound barrier jutsu?" Sakura whispered quietly so only Naruto could hear.

"I forgot." Naruto whispered back.

"Great." Sakura drawled, flushed pink with embarrassment. She buried her face in Naruto's shoulder to avoid looking at Ino's smug face.

"Oh, you two should know that there is a man in the next room who is aspiring to continue Jiraiya's Icha Icha series as well. I wouldn't be surprised if you two make a cameo now."

"Please tell me you're joking..."

"Nope." Ino grinned. "He's quite the perv too, and he's always writing on his notepad."

"Naruto honey, will you pardon me if I murder a pervert?" Sakura asked loudly with a sweet smile on her face. She wanted to be sure this pervy writer could hear her so he would know what would happen if she or Naruto appeared in an Icha Icha book.

"Depends on the situation Sakura-chan." Naruto chuckled.

"Anyways Naruto, I've got the results here. I want you to know that I have double and triple checked this information." Ino said somberly. Sakura instantly knew what her friend was doing and had to repress a happy smile. She could intervene and protect Naruto from getting messed with like Ino messed with her... but decided against it. She's not THAT nice.

"You don't sound too happy about that..." Naruto noted with a fearful look on his face. "It's me... isn't it?" A cold pit formed in his stomach as the realization set in... He couldn't have children. He now had to tell Sakura's parents that he wasn't man enough to give them grandchildren of their own, and he would have to explain to all of the villagers that his genetic line ended with him...

What would they all think? He's supposed to be their powerful, fearless and perfect leader. Would they loose some faith in him if he couldn't have kids? He certainly wouldn't fault any of them...

"Do you really want to know the results of the test Naruto?" Ino asked.

"Kami... yeah. Get it over with Ino." Naruto gulped. He lowered his head to the ground so he could avoid Sakura's gaze; he didn't want to see her disappointment, and he didn't want to receive her forced sympathy. He couldn't believe that this was actually happening. After everything that he had done, he was ultimately going to fail as a man. Would Sakura...

"Ok Naruto..." Ino interrupted Naruto's thoughts. "Well, this test has proven that you're...PERFECTLY FINE."

Naruto's head snapped up with a surprised look on his face. "Come again?"

"Like your wife here, you were a complete idiot to be worrying. Being a jinchuriki has no adverse effects on your sperm."

"If that's the case, why the hell were you so damn somber and serious?!" Naruto groaned, but a relieved smile was firmly etched on his face.

"A little theatrics never hurt anyone, right Ino?" Sakura grinned as she squeezed her husband's hand.

"You were in on this too Sakura-chan? I feel so betrayed!" Naruto said in an overly dramatic voice.

"I did the exact same thing to her." Ino chuckled. "I was surprised you allowed me to do it to him though Sakura. You're usually more protective of Naruto than that."

"Yeah! Where's the protection Sakura?" Naruto whined.

"Are you saying you need my protection Hokage-sama? I can offer it, I'll make sure to rescue you like you're a damsel in distress." Sakura teased.

"You're mean Sakura. I'm having second thoughts about giving you a Christmas gift this year."

"Oh I'm so worried Naruto." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Jeez you two are so cute together it's disgusting." Ino sighed. "Please put on your regular clothes Hokage-sama, and I respectfully request that you two refrain from having sex in a room meant for outpatients... again."

"No promises." Naruto grinned. "We're going to have a baby you know."

"Don't worry Ino, we'll make sure to cast a sound barrier jutsu this time so no one can hear!" Sakura added with a grin that matched her husband's.

"You two..." Ino sighed. "Whatever. I'll see you at our Christmas party tonight."

"Looking forward to it!" Naruto chimed. As soon as Ino walked out of the door he leaned towards Sakura, but she put a halt to any of his hopes by pressing a hand against his chest.

"If I was working today, I would be annoyed if an outpatient was screwing in the room I assigned him. Not here."

"But... we already did. What's a second time?" Naruto whined with a grin on his face.

"Let me put it this way... We can do it here again, on this crappy, thin hospital bed... Or you can hirashin us back to our apartment where we can celebrate _properly_ in our nice, large and luxurious bed." Sakura smirked.

"SOLD!" Naruto quickly picked up his clothes, focused on the kunai he had in their apartment before grabbing his wife and flashing away to celebrate the good news.

* * *

"Oho looking at baby clothes Hokage-sama, Sakura-sama?" An old woman chortled as Naruto and Sakura examined a tiny pair of light blue baby booties. After a... vigorous celebration at home, they had realized that neither had time to pick up the white elephant gift for the party tonight so headed out to the market together to quickly find a gift.

"Oh these aren't for us." Sakura smiled softly. _Not yet anyways..._ She mentally added.

"We have a white elephant gift exchange tonight and neither of us have had time to purchase a gift yet." Naruto explained. "Since all of our friends except for us are starting families, we thought baby gifts might be a good idea this year."

"It's about time for the two of you to join your friends!" The old woman prodded. "I had three kids by the time I was your age!"

"I've heard that a lot." Sakura laughed. "We'll start a family someday."

"The sooner the better! This whole village is just dying to spoil an Uzumaki baby!"

A small smile overtook Naruto's face. The last Uzumaki baby to grow up in Konoha had been treated like utter garbage... It filled him with pride that the village was so eager to treat the next Uzumaki child better. His hard work and determination had paid off. He was highly respected and loved, and his children would never have to experience the horrifying dejection and loneliness he had to endure.

Sakura seemed to know where Naruto's thoughts were and gave him a squeeze before resting her head on his shoulder.

"Well between the village and me it sounds like our kid is going to be a spoiled brat then." Naruto lightly laughed. "I don't know if I have it in me to say no to a child."

"New parents often think that, but you'll find that it's a lot easier than you think once you have your own." The old woman smiled. "You won't like it when they get angry at you, but you'll know that you're saying no for their own good."

"You better learn to say no or else you and I are going to have a lot of problems mister." Sakura nudged Naruto in the ribs in warning. "I will not be the constant bad guy."

"I told my husband the same thing when we first had children." The old woman laughed.

Naruto and Sakura purchased the little blue booties and wished the old woman a Merry Christmas before moving on to the next shop.

"This is so much better." Naruto said with a smile on his face.

"What is?"

"Talking about our future kids. It is so much better now that I know there is nothing wrong with either of us."

"I told you it would lift a huge weight off your shoulders." Sakura said with a soft smile.

"I actually don't mind if it takes longer now. It gives us an excuse to have sex every single chance we get..."

"Naruto! Not in public!" Sakura hissed as she blushed in embarrassment.

"Oh no one can hear me." Naruto said dismissively. "And you can't tell me you don't enjoy it too."

"Of course I love it. I'm half tempted to say that we're trying to have children for the rest of our lives." Sakura chuckled.

"Sakura! Not in public." Naruto teased.

"Oh keep that up Naruto and you can just wait and see when the next time we try for a baby is." Sakura threatened with a playful glare on her face.

"Ok ok! I'm sorry. I won't say another word about it in public!" Naruto quickly apologized. He never wanted to do anything that would cause his wife to withhold sex...

"That's what I thought." Sakura smirked. "You...eep!"

"OH LOOK AT THAT!" Naruto cut Sakura off with an excited yell and quickly dragged her over to a different stand. He moved so quickly that she was barely able to move her feet quick enough to avoid being literally dragged.

"What in kami's name..." Sakura growled in annoyance. Her eyes followed Naruto's and she let out an exasperated sigh. "Only you Naruto, only you."

"Only me? This is the greatest thing I've ever seen!" Naruto grinned.

"Oh you have good taste Hokage-sama." The owner of the stand said with a large grin on his rotund face. "This onesie was designed for you specifically."

"Eh? It's a little small for me." Naruto frowned as he picked up a small, orange onesie with a bowl of ramen and the words "Ramen Lover" stitched in elegant print.

"We thought this would be perfect for your child when you and Sakura-sama decide to start a family." The merchant explained.

"Oh damnit all." Sakura groaned. "Now there is nothing I can do to prevent my future child from wearing this 24/7."

"What's wrong with that? This is awesome! I wish there was an adult-sized one."

The merchant went to open his mouth, but Sakura cut him off with a warning glare. She had a bad feeling that the merchant was about to offer to make Naruto an adult sized version of the onesie he was currently going gaga over.

She admitted that the onesie was perfect for Naruto's child, and having a little baby in it would be cute... The same could not be said for having a full-grown man wearing that one...

"I'll take two!" Naruto yelled.

"Make sure to clearly mark that this is from you, and you only. I don't want my name associated with this." Sakura sighed.

"Your loss Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned. "This is going to be the gift everyone is stealing!"

"Yeah, and I'm twice as fast as you." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"You're not twice as fast me... You're not even as fast as me..." Naruto replied with a confused look on his face.

"That's the point Naruto." Sakura sighed.

"Enjoy the onesie and I hope we can see it on an Uzumaki baby soon!" The merchant grinned.

"Thanks, have a great Christmas." Sakura smiled at the man. She tightened the loop between her and Naruto's arm and started to lead the way back home.

"We're going back home already? I thought we could go for ramen." Naruto frowned.

"Ino's party starts in a few hours and we need to wrap these gifts and get ready."

"You're going to make me dress up aren't you?"

"Yep." Sakura chimed. "And you're going to like it."

"Hai Sakura-sama." Naruto groaned, getting a giggle out of his wife.

* * *

A few hours later found Naruto and Sakura sitting on the Nara's main hall. They were nuzzled closely together on a small loveseat in front of a warm fire. There was the usual large Christmas tree in the corner. White Christmas lights were wrapped around the tree and the rafters in the main hall. Their light alone was enough to illuminate the entire hall.

Sakura was wearing a sleeveless red top that left her shoulders and arms exposed, and tight, black dress pants. Her lips were painted with ruby red lipstick, and a small amount of eyeshadow and blush adorned her face. To top her outfit off, she wore a simple pair of silver earrings, and cute little black heels. Naruto was dressed in a black suit with a red undershirt that matched Sakura's dress. He was currently fidgeting with the black tie she insisted he wear, and the shoelaces on his simple, black dress shoes were already loose. She grabbed ahold of her husband's hands to stop his fidgeting, fixed his tie then nuzzled into him even further.

Unlike years past, there was no alcohol this year. One quick look at the rest of the females in their group explained why. Ino was due to have her second child next month; Hinata had a small baby bump showing, now in her fourth month of pregnancy, which was going to be her and Kiba's first child; and Tenten was just starting to show three months into her pregnancy, which was going to be her and Lee's first.

Even the newcomers of their group were pregnant. Sasuke had fallen in love with a kunoichi that was four years older than they were. They had first met during a funeral of all places. Her name was Mei, and her older brother had been an ANBU on a solo mission. Sasuke had been a member of the team sent to save him when things went awry, but they unfortunately arrived too late. Her brother was the only family that Mei had left, so Sasuke instantly sympathized with her.

Not that he made a move on her at the time, but he told her his tale and offered her his ear if she ever needed it. The two developed a deep emotional bond and months after the funeral Sasuke had finally asked her on a date.

Mei got pregnant a few months after they started dating to the surprise of both of them. But instead of freaking out about it, they were both excited and Sasuke proposed to her on the spot.

Chouji, Shino and Nejii all actually fell in love with civilian girls and each of them proposed within two months of dating. They moved quickly, and sometimes Sakura worried they moved too quickly, but time wasn't a luxury shinobi had. So Sakura could understand why they did what they did. Besides, she didn't have much room to talk. She agreed to marry Naruto after only dating him for a day.

Chouji and Shino married their wives within a week of proposing to them because their clans were so eager for them to produce an heir. Chouji's wife became pregnant after two months of marriage, and Shino's after three. Sakura was never sure if their pregnancies were planned or not, but she had a sneaking feeling they were; Chouji and Shino both wanted to please their families.

Neji and his wife had just gotten married three months ago, and found out they were pregnant last month.

Then there was Sai... His wife, Aiko, was the most baffling of all. Where Sai was socially inept and clueless, his wife was a sweet, polite, outgoing and bubbly woman. She was his complete opposite and _exactly_ what he needed, although Sakura and Naruto could never figure out what attracted her to Sai.

She was only 20 years old, and had been a chunin until a particularly grizzly mission made her decide to retire from the shinobi life. Speaking of moving quickly, Sai and Aiko had gotten married on the very same day they met, and both had positively glowed with happiness ever since. Well... Aiko had. Sai still struggled with displaying emotions, but his smiles had been more genuine ever since marrying Aiko. They had just found out they were pregnant last week.

With all of the women (except for Sakura) pregnant, the party was far more tame, and honestly, none of them minded. Sure drinking highly alcoholic egg nog and dancing the night away had been a lot of fun... But sitting around a fire, cuddled together with their partners and telling stories and jokes was pretty nice itself.

They were all getting ready to move on to the next step in their lives, and none of them would trade that for the world.

"Alright, let's open presents!" Ino announced with a grin. "Remember, we're doing things different this year. We all agreed to buy presents as couples to save some money since kids aren't cheap. Each couple can only pick one number."

"About that... Sakura-chan didn't like a gift I picked out, so our gift is two separate gifts packaged together."

"More Icha Icha books?" Ino asked.

"Worse." Sakura sighed.

"Oooh, now we have to get their gift Shikamaru! I have to know what is worse than Icha Icha books!"

"Troublesome woman..." Shikamaru sighed.

They all drew their numbers and Sai stood up to go first. He walked forward and selected a large, rectangular, blue package with a white bow on top. He took it back to his wife and the two opened it together.

"What the hell?" Sai muttered.

"Sai, be nice. This is... nice." His wife said with a weak smile. "Thank you whoever gifted, "Chronicles of Youth: Volumes 1-20..."

"No problem." Sasuke smirked. "I received the first 10 volumes during the party two years ago, and Sai pawned off Volumes 11-20 on me during last year's. I couldn't even make it through the first one..."

"They were seriously the worst books I have ever tried to read..." Sasuke's wife, Mei added with a sweat drop that caused everyone to start laughing.

"Gai-sensei's books are inspiring!" Lee protested. "They are the greatest pieces of literature of the modern age!"

"You and Gai are the only people who think that Lee." Neji smirked.

"I think I hate you duck ass." Sai said with a fake smile on his face.

"No!" His wife slapped him in the back of his head. "That is rude to say things like that sweety. Thank you Sasuke, Mei. We'll try to read them."

"Go Shikamaru, go get Naruto and Sakura's gifts!" Ino commanded, apparently they were the next up. Shikamaru grumbled a little but obeyed his wife's command and grabbed the two orange gifts with blue ribbons wrapped around them. He handed Ino one and each of them unwrapped a gift.

"Awww, I don't see why this is worse than the Icha Icha series Sakura!" Ino cooed as she held up the cute little booties.

"I think this is what she was referring to..." Shikamaru deadpanned as he held up the orange ramen onesie.

"Oh...my...kami... HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ino started laughing hysterically causing Sakura to bury her head in shame.

"Hey, what's so funny? That's the coolest onesie ever!" Naruto pouted.

"What is it?" Kiba asked, curious to what could make Ino laugh so hard. Ino held up the onesie for all to see, and soon the entire hall was filled with the raucous laughter of everyone except Naruto (who was extremely confused), and Sakura (who was extremely embarrassed).

"Oh jeez..." Ino wheezed as she finally regained control of herself. "Thank you Sakura, these booties are adorable."

"What about me?"

"This onesie is very... you." Shikamaru answered in a slightly exasperated tone.

"Your kid is going to look awesome in it! I bet little Chiro would fit in it right now! Where is he so we can see him in it?"

"You will only ever see him in this onesie if he misbehaves and I have to punish him." Ino grinned. "And Chiro is with my parents tonight."

"I'm the Hokage, I can order you to have your child wear that you know!"

"Not a chance." Sakura finally spoke up. "It's bad enough that our own child is going to be wearing that rediculous outfit... I will not allow you to force more innocent children to wear it."

"Your child?" Hinata quirked her eyebrow.

"You're pregnant?" Tenten added.

"No no." Sakura smiled. "Not yet anyway."

"So you two are planning on having a child soon?" Sasuke asked.

"We've been trying for a month actually." Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "All you people are forcing our hand if we want our kids to grow up with yours."

The group started congratulating Naruto and Sakura on their decision before Ino started to set everything back on track.

"Ok ok, yes Forehead is finally going to have a baby. It's great, but there are a lot more presents to open! Let's get to it!"

* * *

It took the group close to an hour to finish the white elephant gift exchange. Other than Sasuke and Mai, everyone had purchased baby clothes. Sakura and Naruto had the unfortunate luck of opening Lee's gift, which was a baby-sized green jumpsuit that both silently agreed would never touch any child of theirs.

They had all hung out for another couple of hours until the fire in the fireplace starting to die out. After saying goodbye to everyone, they headed back to their respective homes.

"Man this feels so surreal." Naruto spoke up as they slowly strode back to their apartment.

"What feel surreal?"

"Everything. I'm the Hokage, everyone in the village loves me, I'm married to the most beautiful woman to ever walk the land, and now we're telling our friends that we're trying for a baby. Thank you Sakura for helping me get everything and more that I ever dreamed of when I was a little kid."

"I could say the same." Sakura hummed as she leaned into her husband.

"Please, you didn't dream of me when you were a kid." Naruto chuckled. "I would be totally screwed if you went with your little kid dream, and you'd be stuck with that emo Sasuke."

"He's not that emo now; Mai has been good for him." Sakura chuckled, defending their other teammate. "And besides, this dream totally kicks the crap out of every dream I had as a little girl."

That seemed to be the right thing to say. A large smile adorned Naruto's face and he wrapped an arm around her waist.

"So... we told everyone that we're trying to have a kid." Naruto drawled.

"And?" Sakura prompted as their apartment came into view.

"Well I would never want to be known as someone who didn't stick to his word."

"Oh no, that would be terrible! We couldn't have our Hokage be known as that!" Sakura said in an overly alarmed voice.

"That's what I'm thinking!" Naruto agreed. His grin was so large and bright it practically lit up the dark night.

"Well I guess we'll just have to try again once we get inside won't we then, Hokage-sama?"

"You read my mind Sakura-sama."

Both Naruto and Sakura's pace quickened as the two quickly hurried inside their home to stay true to their word.

* * *

Alright, so almost an hour late but close enough! I'm counting this as December 24! We're pretty much navigating through fluffy territory from the middle of that chapter to the end of this one! Make sure to check back tomorrow for the fluffy Christmasy conclusion!

As always, please feel free to review!

For all who reviewed last time...

**Naruto Sakura Uzumaki**:Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy my stories =) Sorry about the lack of updates on Jinchuriki's Strength/Guardian... I swear they're coming one day. As for not doing lemons, I just haven't been able to write one that doesn't feel like smut to me. If I can ever manage to write one without it feeling like smut, then you'll see a lemon from me! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and enjoy the next!

** keyblade1984**: Glad to see you've enjoyed this series of fics =) Hope you enjoy the rest of this one!

**Gundam27**:Thank ya! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**The Keeper of Worlds**: Thank ya!

**kidloco**: I hope it was worth the wait!

**ROB24DOG**: =)

**Zatheko**: Thanks for the kind words. And I can't NOT write in a happy ending =P

**Minato 0077**: I am glad to read that!

** bankai777**: Oh jeez, could you imagine two people with Naruto and Sakura's schedules with twins? Haha.

** ninaxw**:Glad you were able to get caught up so quickly, and Merry Christmas =)

** Cloud Ex-SOLDIER**: Thanks! Your reviews are always among my favorites, I appreciate the level of feedback provided! I tried to pump some realism into the series with "All We Want for Christmas" and wanted to continue it a little by showing how busy a Hokage's life could be. And I've actually been struggling with time management and planning the past few months at my job, so I hear ya 100 percent. Trying to plan stuff out in advance can quickly become an absolute nightmare =P I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	3. December 25

And here we are at the conclusion! Warning: Lots of fluff below.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed since last time: Zatheko, swagosaurus, Gundam27, I'm Not A Princess, Random, bankai777, The Keeper of Worlds, SuperNeos2, TheClOnE, kidloco, Konan-dono, AnonymousIncognito

Standard disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Naruto would pull Sasuke out of his hatred by offering him a slice of delicious Apple pie (it's practically impossible to be angry after eating a delicious slice of pie!)

* * *

Naruto slowly stirred awake as morning sunlight streamed through their window. He couldn't help the giant grin that overtook his face when he realized his naked wife was wrapped tightly around him. He had only been married for about a year and a half, but he would never understand how some men complained about getting to only have sex with their wife for the rest of their lives. Naruto couldn't ever foresee a future where he was tired of what they did last night, nor could he imagine a future when he would want to do that with anyone except for his beautiful goddess.

"Kami I love trying to have kids." Naruto whispered quietly to himself, so not to disturb his sleeping wife.

"Agreed..." Sakura sleepily murmered. Her eyes timidly cracked open, as if testing the light, before opening fully. "Morning."

"Sorry I woke you." Naruto apologized. "Go back to sleep Sakura-chan."

"I want to..." Sakura muttered. "But we're doing lunch with my parents today since Tsunade-sama is holding a Christmas party tonight."

"It's only 9:30, we don't have to be at your parents' house until noon and they have one of my special kunai there we can flash to instantly. We can stay here for a couple more hours."

"If we lay in bed naked together any longer we will inevitably have sex." Sakura pointed out.

"I fail to see the problem." Naruto countered, his grin widening.

"We're going to be doing Christmas with my parents soon! I do not want to go over there with sex hair or reeking of sex."

"That's why showers were invented!"

"You just can't get enough can you?" Sakura giggled.

"I will never be able to get enough of you Sakura. You're perfect."

Sakura smiled at her husband and gave him a quick, soft kiss. "As tempted as I am to give in to that flattery... we really shouldn't. We have to do our own Christmas and have to get ready for lunch."

"You know what I want for Christmas..." Naruto murmured as he nuzzled into Sakura.

"You don't want me for Christmas, you want me for everything." Sakura teased.

"That's beside the point." Naruto countered. He began kissing softly kissing Sakura's neck.

"Naruto..." Sakura moaned. "Stop. We really should be good for now, we have a lot to do today!"

"But..."

"We'll make up for it tonight." Sakura promised, laying a kiss on his forehead.

"Fine." Naruto huffed. "No clothes though!"

"We are not doing naked Christmas..." Sakura said with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh come on!"

"What do you think is going to happen if you and I stay naked?"

"I'm sure nothing will happen." Naruto said in an innocent tone.

"You're tricky." Sakura smiled, easily seeing through his plan. "We're wearing clothes, end of story."

"You are no fun Sakura-chan." Naruto whined.

Sakura gave him one final kiss before getting out of bed. She made no effort to cover herself and swayed her hips to make sure Naruto's eyes were firmly glued to her; nothing wrong with teasing her husband a little. She loved the power she held over him, and loved how gorgeous he made her feel just by looking at her.

She bent over and slowly started rifling through their dresser for something to wear.

"Oh come on, this isn't even fair!" Naruto groaned.

"What isn't fair?" Sakura flashed Naruto an innocent smile over her shoulder. "I'm just trying to find something to wear."

"You are pure evil Sakura Uzumaki." She could tell by the sound of Naruto's voice that he wanted nothing more than to jump on her this very second. But he was being good, he never would force himself on her. Not that she really protest much if he did.

"Just enjoy the show and get ready for tonight." Sakura hummed. She swayed her hips slowly side to side to further tease her poor husband.

"You're so gorgeous..." Naruto breathed.

"Flattery will get you know where... for now, Hokage-sama."

Deciding she had toyed with Naruto enough, Sakura finally grabbed a pair of panties, a matching bra, sweat pants and a tank top. She turned around and stared straight into Naruto's eyes as she slowly dressed herself.

"Have fun?" Sakura smirked.

"I don't suppose I can get any more of your help, like yesterday?"

"Maybe tonight, if that's what you want." Sakura walked to the bed and leaned down to give Naruto a deep kiss. Instead of pulling away when they broke the kiss, Sakura put her mouth over Naruto's ear.

"Your good behavior will definitely be rewarded tonight, Na-ru-to."

"That's it... I'm going to create a time travel jutsu. Screw the Christmas parties." Naruto practically moaned. Sakura had really gotten him worked up.

"Don't you dare! I'm looking forward to them, and you know that good things come to those who wait."

"Fine, fine." Naruto sighed. "Alright, my turn. Two can play this game Sakura-chan!" Naruto tried to walk his naked body to their dresser in a sexy way like she did, but it wasn't exactly something he was good at, so it ended up being a little awkward.

"How do _you_ like it Sakura?" Naruto asked as he grinned over his shoulder. His eyes widened when he realized he was alone in their bedroom. "Hey! Sakura get back in here!"

"Nope!" She called from what sounded like the living room. "No one ever said you had to stay there and watch while I teased you!"

"It was impossible for me not to! You're gorgeous!"

"I know." Sakura giggled. "Unfortunately for you, I have more willpower than you."

"You play dirty Sakura-chan." Naruto sighed in defeat. He quickly threw on some boxers, a pair of orange pants and a blue t-shirt before joining Sakura in the living room and sat down next to her with a pout on his face.

"Oh I'm sorry Naruto." Sakura apologized in a sarcastic voice. "Next time I won't let you stare at me completely naked."

"WHAT?! NO!"

"But you seem so sad right now..."

"I'm never going to win am I?" Naruto sighed with a small smile tugging at the corners of his pouting lips.

"As long as you can't resist me, nope." Sakura chuckled.

"I can resist you!" Naruto protested.

"If I told you to strip at the snap of my fingers you'd be naked and ready for sex in three seconds."

"Bullshit. I would do the responsible thing."

"You're right, you would. To reward you Naruto, I'm going to snap my fingers. Once I do, I want you to strip and we can do what you wanted to do earlier." Sakura cooed, causing an excited look to overtake Naruto's face.

She snapped her fingers and smirked as her husband quickly disrobed.

"Case and point." Sakura chuckled. "Too easy."

"Wait... aww crap! I thought you were serious!"

"You can be such an idiot."

"Ok fine... so maybe I can't resist you... But one day..."

"Don't." Sakura grabbed Naruto's hands and gave them a squeeze. "I love it. I promise everything will be worth it tonight. Now put those clothes back on so we can do Christmas."

"You promise?"

"Believe it!"

"Fine." Naruto sighed and quickly put his clothes back on.

"Now sit down." Sakura patted the spot on her couch which Naruto retook. She got up and grabbed the presents under their modest Christmas, brought them back and handed Naruto his gifts.

"Open your gifts first Sakura-chan!" Naruto said with an excited grin on his face.

Sakura obliged her husband's request and opened a small box first to reveal a small, circular aquamarine framed by silver.

"What's this?" Sakura asked.

"It's for your birth month. Keep opening." Naruto urged. Sakura nodded and opened another small package to reveal a small, circular opal framed by silver.

"This is for your birth month." Sakura noted. She grabbed opened another small package to reveal a small, silver number seven. Then opened another to reveal a small, silver medical symbol.

"What am I supposed to do with these?" Sakura asked as she started opening another small gift.

"Good things come to those who wait Sakura." Naruto teased. She rolled her eyes, but focused her attention on the newest small charm, which was a small, silver kanji for "copy." She opened another to reveal a small, silver kanji for "gamble."

Now there was only one slender package left, that was different from the rest. She opened it to reveal an elegant, rectangular, black box. She flashed Naruto a warm smile.

"Jewelry huh? The last time I got jewelry from you on Christmas it was an engagement ring."

"This isn't quite that monumental, but I think you'll like it."

Sakura popped the small box open and admired a sparkly, silver bracelet.

"It's called a charm bracelet." Naruto explained. "The jeweler I bought this from said these are really popular in some faraway land that he had traveled from. All those little things I gave you are charms that you put on the bracelet, and they represent important things in your life. You have your and my birth stones to represent each of our lives, a seven to represent Team Seven, a medical symbol to represent your medic nin talents, the copy kanji to represent your first sensei, Kakashi, and a gamble kanji to represent your second sensei, Tsunade."

Naruto took the bracelet from her hand and began putting all the charms on it. Sakura held out her wrist with a soft smile on her face that widened when Naruto hooked the beautiful bracelet around her slender wrist.

"This is beautiful... It's perfect." Sakura finally said, admiring her beautiful bracelet and all the things it represented. "So I keep adding to it as I go on?"

"Yep. Once we have our baby I'll get you a birthstone of his or her month for it."

Sakura leaned forward and crashed her lips into Naruto's. Unlike her earlier kisses this morning, she wasn't content with just kissing and pressed her tongue against his lips. Naruto quickly granted her tongue access and she let him lay her down on the couch as they began to make out. She was surprised when he pulled back, panting just as heavy as she was.

"Hah... I can resist you." Naruto chuckled.

"Oh come on." Sakura pouted. "Come back down here."

"Don't you want to do our Christmas and then go to your parents without having sex?"

"Why don't you come back down here and find out?"

"Everything will be worth it tonight." Naruto smirked, using more of Sakura's own words against her.

"Touche..." Sakura sighed. She sat back up once Naruto got off her. "Since when have you been able to resist me?"

"Since always!"

"I had you naked with the snap of my finger earlier." Sakura pointed out with a smirk on her face.

"I thought you were serious then!"

"I hope our child has my intelligence." Sakura chuckled. "Your turn to open your gifts baka."

Naruto opened his first gift to reveal a book on nutrition, and quirked an eyebrow at his wife.

"If we're going to have a child together you will have to learn about nutrition so you can help me ensure our baby eats healthy."

"Ramen has vegetables Sakura-chan. It's plenty healthy."

"After you read that book you'll learn why that was such a stupid statement."

"IF I read this book."

"There may be a reward for you if you read it." Sakura said as she flashed Naruto a flirtatious smile.

"Reward?"

"Mmhmm. One you'll love."

"What kind of reward?"

"You'll just have to read the book and find out." Sakura winked. "But I guarantee you will be happy you read the book afterwards."

"If you're just messing with me Sakura..."

"I'm not." Sakura grinned. "I know full well how hard it is to get you to read a book."

"Fine. I'll read it, even if I already know that ramen is all our child will need."

Naruto picked up another package and opened it to reveal an orange t-shirt with a ramen bowl on it that had the words, "ramen lover" stitched on in an elegant script.

"This is like that onesie!" Naruto yelled in excitement. He quickly threw his shirt off and put the new one on.

"I went back and had them make you a t-shirt version of it. It'll be absolutely adorable when daddy and baby match."

"You are the best Sakura!" Naruto wrapped Sakura in a bone-crushing hug, causing her to start laughing.

"Only you would get this excited for a t-shirt. It's not even your best gift!"

Naruto only had one gift remaining; a large, thin, square package wrapped neatly in red wrapping paper. He tore it open to reveal a painting in a golden frame. Naruto wasn't normally someone who was a big fan of paintings, but this particular painting left him speechless.

He stood in the center of the painting, clad in his Hokage garb, and Sakura was directly at his side. His father was in the top left corner, his mother in the top middle, and Jiraiya in the top right corner. All three of them were beaming down at him with proud looks on their faces. Sasuke stood a few feet away from him, on the opposite side of Sakura, and Iruka, Kakashi and Tsunade stood below him looking up with proud looks on their faces.

The rest of his friends were drawn in the background, with Sai, Yamato, Gaara and Bee at the forefront. But what really made this painting so perfect was the script written over the entire scene.

_I'm Not Going to Run Away and I Will Never Go Back on My Word. That is My Ninja Way._

"This is... amazing." Naruto finally spoke up. "Sakura, how did you..."

"It looks like we both thought of gifts that symbolized our lives so far." Sakura smiled. "I commissioned Sai to paint this."

"And you thought of all of this? Or did Sai come up with some of this?"

"It was all me." Sakura confirmed with a proud smile. "Sai and I argued about where to place your nindo, but I thought it was more appropriate to go over the entire picture, because your nindo guides you through your entire life."

"You're the best. You know that right? You're the best wife in the world?"

"You're a pretty good husband too." Sakura smiled. She leaned into Naruto and kissed him again, and this time, she pushed him down onto the couch. She proceeded to press herself tightly against him just as their tongues met for the second time in the day.

"Mmm, mmm!"

Sakura sighed into the kiss and pulled away with an annoyed look on her face. "What?"

"We don't want to smell of sex or have sex hair for Christmas lunch with your parents." Naruto reminded.

"Screw that." Sakura took her tanktop off and quickly unhooked her bra. Naruto's newfound willpower would be completely useless against her girls. She smirked at the lustful look in his wide eyes. "That's why showers were invented."

A happy grin adorned Naruto's face as she leaned back down to resume their kiss.

* * *

"So I told Mrs. Tagachi that I hoped you two would think about starting a family soon." Sakura's mom prattled on. After profusely "thanking" each other for their gifts, Naruto and Sakura found themselves sitting in the Haruno's living room with damp hair. Other than a raised eyebrow from Sakura's father, they weren't questioned for their appearance and both were thankful for showers; they had certainly needed it by the time they were finished.

"Sakura, Naruto, are you two even listening?" Sakura's mom huffed.

"They're very important people, I'm sure they have more pressing things to concern themselves with then listening to you prattling on Kaori." Sakura's father said, coming to the couple's aid. "Although I agree that you should definitely start a family soon. I'm another year older and still am only a father."

"Oh I'm so sorry Daddy. I can't imagine just how horrible it must be for you to _only_ be the father of the Hokage's wife, assistant and co-head of the Konoha hospital."

"I'm glad you're starting to understand." Sakura's father teased.

"Oh be nice Makoto." Kaori chided. "But seriously you two, we heard about your teammate Sai and his wife. You're the only two who aren't starting a family."

"You two... it's always about grandkids with you." Sakura chuckled. She reached out and grabbed Naruto's hand, gave it a squeeze and then looked at her parents with a soft smile on her face.

"But for your information, we are now officially trying for a baby."

"WHAT?!" Kaori yelled with a surprised look on her face.

"About damn time!" Makoto grinned. "Do you know how badly I want grandchildren?!"

"We've got an idea Makoto." Naruto deadpanned. "You've been on us about that since we first got together."

"Oh this is so exciting! Have you thought about names? Or..."

"No mom." Sakura cut Kaori off before she could start rambling too much. "We'll think about that stuff once we actually get pregnant."

"So are you going to resign from your post once you have your baby?" Kaori asked.

"What? Why would I do that?" Sakura sputtered with a flabbergasted look on her face.

"Well someone has to stay home to take care of the baby..."

"I would never ask that of Sakura. Her career is very important to her." Naruto spoke up. "I'm having a sound-proof baby room built off of my office so we'll be able to take our baby boy or girl into work with us. It will be difficult, but we'll work together to make sure that child gets all the attention he or she could ever want."

"You do realize how much work goes into taking care of a baby right?" Kaori asked.

"Kaori, don't try to scare them away from their decision!" Makoto chided. "What she meant to say was that we will help in any way we can, and we are glad you two have already talked about this and come up with a solution that makes both of you happy."

"We understand how difficult it will be mom." Sakura smiled. "But this is what we both want, and we will make it work."

"Well good then." Kaori returned her daughter's smile. "I'd say you got a keeper Sakura. I don't know how many men would be open to such an arrangement."

"You'd be surprised. None of my kunoichi friends are retiring. Ino, Hinata and Tenten all are going to stay on the active roster and take missions regularly just as they always have after they have their kids."

"I forgot how different your generation is sometimes." Kaori chuckled. "Now let's eat!"

* * *

As always, the Haruno Christmas dinner (lunch in this case) was fantastic, and both the Harunos and Uzumakis ate until they could eat no more. After helping Kaori wash the dishes, they gathered around the Christmas tree and began opening gifts.

"What a surprise," Sakura deadpanned with a sweat drop as she held up her most recent gift. "A baby bib." She set it down with the rest of her gifts, all of which were either baby clothes or materials, or books about the joys of raising children.

"Did you two think Sakura was pregnant before we came here?" Naruto asked with a quirked eyebrow. He opened his present to reveal a book about the bond between a father and his child.

"We thought we would push you guys in the right direction with your Christmas gifts this year." Kaori explained with a sheepish smile on her face.

"And considering you two are trying to start a family, it was a damn good choice on our part!" Makoto added.

"We're not even pregnant, and we have no way of knowing what the gender of our baby will be." Sakura laughed. "Half of this stuff is going to be useless if we have a girl, and the other half will be useless if we only have a boy!"

"Well you'll just have to make sure you have both then." Makoto grinned.

"We're only planning on two, MAYBE three children." Sakura countered. "There's a chance we could have all girls or all boys."

"Then you will have plenty of stuff to give away at baby showers then." Kaori said.

"I guess..." Sakura muttered as she opened yet another baby gift. Her parents were many things, but they certainly weren't subtle.

* * *

"Your parents really laid it on this time." Naruto chuckled as he walked back to their apartment with his wife. A single scroll contained the excess of baby gifts they had both received for Christmas.

"Tell me about it." Sakura sighed. "But hey, we don't have to buy baby clothes... ever."

"Nothing we got today beats my onesie though."

"I would disagree." Sakura chuckled. "Mom found some really cute outfits. I'm sorry about my parents by the way, I hope that wasn't too unbearable."

"Are you kidding? Yeah, they were a bit much, but we were still talking about _our_ baby. I will never complain when talking about starting a family with the woman of my dreams."

"Yeah... me neither." Sakura agreed with a soft smile.

The pair walked hand in hand back towards their home.

* * *

Tsunade's first ever Christmas party was officially underway. What had originally been planned as just a small gathering of people close to Tsunade had quickly evolved into what Naruto and Sakura found themselves in now; one of the largest social gatherings in all of Konoha. Tsunade wanted it that way of course, claiming now that she was retired and Naruto had his feet under him, she had nothing better to do than plan a giant party.

Sakura was wearing the kimono she wore when she and Naruto first attended Ino's Christmas party two years ago. It was one of her favorite things she owned. She loved the way the green fabric perfectly matched her eyes, she loved how the kimono hugged her body to accentuate all of her curves, and she loved the cherry blossom design traveling from the top of the left sleeve and trailing all the way down the side. She happened to know that Naruto loved this kimono too. With only one left sleeve, her right shoulder was completely exposed, and the kimono had a large opening to proudly display her bust. To top it all off, it was relatively short, stopping just past her thighs. She could tell that Naruto was clearly entranced by her in this kimono just as he had been two years ago during Ino's party.

She smiled fondly at the memory of that night. She had been so happy to have finally broken through Naruto's stubborn defenses and spend some time with him for the first time in years after claiming him the night before.

Sakura glanced at her date from the corner of her eye. He probably was partly to blame for her taking a walk down memory lane and thinking about Ino's party two years ago. Like her, Naruto was wearing the outfit he had all those nights ago.

She had gotten him many more nice clothes since they got together, and her mother even made him some very nice outfits as well, but the simplicity of this outfit and the nostalgia it evoked in her made it one of he favorites.

His black dress pants with a sapphire stripe going down their sides still fit him just as well as they did two years ago, and the sapphire tie he wore stood out over top his white button up shirt. The black overcoat he was wearing over his shirt that reached his knees still made him look kind of cool in Sakura's opinion, and she loved the way the Uzumaki kanji was proudly displayed on the back.

It was still funny for Sakura to think about, that just three years ago, their lives didn't involve each other in the slightest. Naruto avoided Sakura and all information about her like the plague. Now, she doubted either one of them could imagine life without the other like that. She managed to enjoy her life still when he was avoiding her, but she would be absolutely miserable if that were the case now.

In a short two-year timeframe, their relationship had blossomed into something completely new and wonderful. They weren't just best friends, and they weren't just lovers... In two short years they had become part of each other. Neither of them could be whole without the other ever again.

"Whatcha thinking about Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked quietly. He had been watching her out of the corner of his eye and was curious what could make her look nostalgic one second, then positively glowing with happiness the next.

"Oh just walking down memory lane." Sakura hummed. "And thinking about where it led."

"Which lane?" Naruto asked. "I hope..."

"So the brat has arrived! And he brought my apprentice!" Tsunade's loud voice called, interrupting Naruto. "You are just the man I've been waiting for."

"Hey Baa-chan, pretty great party you have here." Naruto grinned.

"Of course it's great! I'm the Godaime Hokage, I would never throw a bad party!"

"Merry Christmas Tsunade-sama." Sakura greeted. "Your gift is still en route from Rice Country, but we've been told it should be arriving in the next few days."

"Rice country?" Tsunade's eyes lit up in excitement. "You two got me sake for Christmas?"

"We won't ruin the surprise Tsunade-sama." Sakura chuckled, all but confirming her Master's suspicion.

"That's why I like you kids." Tsunade grinned. "Now come on Naruto, we have a drinking contest to begin."

"Eh... I'm alright Baa-chan. Looks like you're going to be 3-0 in our contests."

"No way! I'm not accepting a third-straight cop out. You have conceded the match without even trying two years in a row. You are a man who has a reputation for never backing away from a challenge and I am challenging you. Now follow me!"

Naruto looked at Sakura with a pleading look on his face.

"Good luck honey." Sakura said with a mischievous grin, much to her husband's despair.

"Naruto! Are you coming or not?"

"Coming Baa-chan." Naruto groaned and followed Tsunade up to a stage with a table set up that was lined with bottles of sake. A large banner hung overhead that read, "Godaime vs Rokudaime Hokage Drinking Contest." Tsunade had gone all out to make this a spectacle apparently...

He caught Sasuke, Kakashi, Gai, Sai, Kiba and Hinata all giving him sympathetic looks as he walked onto the stage. Each of them had been forced to enter into a drinking contest against Tsunade in the past, and each of them knew Naruto's inevitable fate.

"ALL RIGHT EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Tsunade yelled with an excited grin. "It's time for the main event!"

"Main event? Really Baa-chan?" Naruto sighed.

"The Godaime vs. Rokudaime Hokage Drinking Contest is a time-honored tradition that your current Hokage here is yet to win!" Tsunade went on, completely ignoring Naruto.

"Time honored? I haven't been Hokage that..."

"TIME HONORED!" Tsunade yelled, cutting Naruto off, to the amusement of the crowd. "Now take your position Naruto, it's time to get your ass kicked!"

"Sakura, wherever you are out there, I want you to know that I love you!" Naruto yelled dramatically, causing the crowd to start laughing.

"Shizune! Start the contest!"

"Do I have to Tsunade-sama? This contest doesn't really set a good example..." Shizune muttered.

"As a contestant, I can't begin it. This is an important Konohan tradition. You must start the contest."

"Important my ass..." Shizune sighed. "Fine. Contestents... on your mark... get set... GO!"

Naruto grabbed his first bottle of sake and started chugging it. Thanks to all the sake he drank last year when his marriage was struggling, the first bottle was going down smoothly enough. He was half way through it when he made the mistake of glancing over at Tsunade.

An empty bottle was on the table, and Tsunade was already downing her second bottle. He returned his focus to his sake and quickly finished his bottle off. If he was going to be forced to participate in this damn contest he was going to find a way to win!

Naruto grabbed his second bottle and started chugging it. He knew that his only hope of winning was chugging as much sake as quickly as possible before it had time to take effect. Once this sake he was chugging hit him, he would be completely screwed. He slammed his second empty bottle down and picked up a third.

About halfway through the third bottle, he started to get a little light-headed as the sake began to take its course. _Shit! I can't be feeling it so soon!_ He channeled his ramen consuming prowess into sake drinking, and gulped down the remainder of his third bottle in two giant gulps, before moving onto a fourth bottle.

His world began to spin a little bit as he started on his fourth bottle. Apparently, consuming three bottles of sake within a few minutes of each other was not a good idea. He finished his fourth bottle with a bit of difficulty.

He grabbed his fifth bottle with a determined glint in his eye. The sake had fully taken effect now, and he managed to go from sober to drunk in a little over six minutes. He had to slow his pace considerably for the fifth bottle, but he would finish it. And he would defeat Tsunade. It took him three more minutes to finish his fifth bottle. When he went to grab a sixth bottle, his vision was so blurry he only succeeded in taking a blind swipe at thin air.

He put both of his hands on the table to steady himself; he was done. BUT he had drank five whole bottles of sake, no way could Baa-chan have beaten that. A victorious grinned appeared on Naruto's face.

"I'm *hic* soooo good at this..." Naruto drunkenly boasted. He turned to Tsunade to goad over her, but his eyes quickly widened in shock. "EYYY, how the hell did you dooo that Baaaaaaaaaa-chan?"

Tsunade finished off the bottle of sake she was chugging before placing it down to join the other nine bottles she had finished. "I'm not even done warming up Brat."

"How the...im...im... oh I'm going to be sick..." Naruto groaned. His world was spinning far too quickly now for him to be able to maintain his balance and Naruto started to fall over. A flash of pink prevented Naruto from falling all the way, as Sakura suddenly flickered to his side to keep him upright.

"Looook everyone! It's the be-best wife everrr! Let's all cheeeer for Sakura-chan!"

The crowd laughed but obliged their drunken Hokage and started to cheer for his wife.

"You're an idiot." Sakura sighed with a smile on her face. She placed a growing green hand against Naruto's chest so she could help him sober up.

"Hey! No fair!" Tsunade protested. "You can't stimulate his kidneys to remove the effects of the alcohol!"

"You already kicked his ass Master." Sakura chuckled. "And I happen to need him tonight; my plans will be ruined if he's too drunk to stand."

"Is that so?" Tsunade quirked an eyebrow, before a smirk overtook her face. "Ladies and Gentleman, our Hokage and his wife have an announcement to make!"

"We do?" Sakura asked.

"You do. Don't think you can heal my victims without consequences. So... make your announcement or stop sobering Naruto up."

"Tsunade..." Sakura whined.

"SAKURA AND I ARE TRYING TO HAVE A BABY!" Naruto yelled with an excited grin on his face... he was still kind of drunk.

There was a moment of silence as the crowd processed the information, but cheers soon followed and quickly erupted through Tsunade's home.

* * *

Sakura greedily gulped down a glass of water as she regained control of her breathing. Her and Naruto's clothes were randomly strewn about the apartment, tossed aimlessly during their passion. The cool water felt good as it traveled down her throat.

After Naruto drunkenly told everyone they were trying to have a baby and Sakura had finished sobering him up, they left the party and Naruto used the hirashin to get them home in a split second.

What had followed had been everything and more that they promised each other in the morning. She smiled, filled her glass back up with water and walked into their bedroom where her naked husband was waiting. She was pleased to see he was still trying to regain his breath.

"Here you go Naruto." Sakura watched as he gulped down the glass of water about as quickly as Tsunade chugged her sake earlier in the night.

"Seriously Sakura... we are going to be trying to have kids forever. This is awesome." Naruto grinned.

"No more tonight." Sakura returned Naruto's grin. "I'm exhausted."

"Me too. I used to think the best kind of exhaustion was after a long day of training, but this totally beats that feeling."

Sakura chuckled and slipped on a matching pair of bra and panties, and then tossed a pair of boxers at her husband.

"Awww, why are we putting these on?"

"Because if we don't put something on we're going to try to go again." Sakura smirked. "I'm gonna wash up for bed."

She walked into their bathroom, washed her face and then started to brush her teeth. As she scrubbed away, she mindlessly used her chakra to scan her body. She _had _been afraid to do this before she knew for sure that she was fertile. She figured it couldn't hurt now that she knew that there were no problems with her or Naruto.

Her toothbrush stopped and her eyes widened as she detected something new. She quickly spit her toothpaste out and sprinted into their bedroom, where she pounced on Naruto and assaulted his face with joyous kisses.

"I thought we were done for tonight." Naruto moaned.

Sakura trailed her kisses up Naruto's jawline, past his cheek and up to his ear.

"Naruto..." She whispered in a voice overflowing with happiness. "I'm pregnant."

Naruto's eyes went wide with shock and then an excited grin overtook Naruto's face. Relief, happiness, joy and excitement all surged through his body at once.

"I'm going be a daddy... you're going to be a mommy... WE'RE GOING TO BE PARENTS! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!" Naruto whooped for joy, causing Sakura to laugh. He quickly stood up, scooped her off the bed and started to spin her around while cheering.

"OH SHIT! You're pregnant!" Naruto swore and quickly put Sakura down like she was some kind of precious doll. He situated her in the bed, fluffed her pillow and tucked the covers around her.

"I'm not very far along you baka." Sakura giggled. "So don't treat me like I'm made of glass or anything."

"Right... I just... I'm so happy right now Sakura. I want to thank you by treating you like a princess. I don't want you to have to worry about a single thing!"

"I'm overjoyed too." Sakura smiled at her overenthusiastic husband. She grabbed ahold of him, dragged him under the covers and sighed in contentment when his arms wrapped around her.

"Thank you Sakura-chan." Naruto murmured. "Thank you so much for this."

"Hey you helped too." Sakura shot back with a playful smirk. "I should be thanking you too."

"I love you so much. I can't wait for this."

"I love you too Naruto."

Neither Naruto or Sakura said another word for a few minutes as they basked in the joy that Sakura's news brought them.

"Ne Sakura-chan... if us announcing that we were trying to have a baby caused everyone at the party tonight to cheer like that, what do you think the village is gonna do when we tell them we're going to be parents?"

"Throw a festival if my parents have anything to say about it." Sakura laughed.

The parents-to-be snuggled tightly together with smiles etched so firmly on their faces they couldn't remove them if the security of the world was at stake. They ended up getting what they wanted for Christmas after all.

* * *

Aaand fin. A couple hours late, but like last night, I'm totally counting this as Christmas still =P I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season and has a very happy new year.

**This is the final "All I Want for Christmas" story. **Not to say it's the last time I will be writing in this universe of course, but next year will not feature a three-part story following this format =) That being said, spinoffs are always possible (along the lines of "The Sakura Ball" for example), and there may be an epilogue to this one coming as well!

As always, please do share your thoughts via review!

Speaking of reviews... reviewer responses -

**Zatheko**: Thanks, I'm glad you like it and I hope you enjoyed the conclusion =) As you can see, I left the baby up to the readers imagination for now!

** swagosaurus**:Those be some kind words! Thanks =) I would write more if my schedule allowed it!

**Gundam27**:Thanks for the kind works; I'm glad you enjoy my work! Merry Christmas to you too!

**I'm Not A Princess**: Done!

**Random**:Thanks! I hope you enjoyed the conclusion over in NZ =)

**bankai77**: =)

** The Keeper of Worlds**:Merry Christmas to you as well! As you could see above, the fic ends with them finding out they're pregnant and leaves the details of the kids up to the reader's imagination for now. If Sakura was along enough to be able to have a baby in the three-day time frame this fic takes place in, neither of them would've been worrying about not being able to have kids in the beginning of the story as Sakura would have a big ol' baby belly!

**SuperNeos2**: Assuming you meant to include "best," then I must humbly say, thank you very much!

**TheClOnE**: Thanks for the encouragement and glad you liked it! Hopefully the conclusion didn't disappoint.

**kidloco**: I generally don't include lemons because I can't write them without making them appear to be smut. The ones I've attempted to write haven't added anything more to the story's plot, so I've stayed away from them. Good luck with your fic!

**Konan-dono**: Thanks! I hope you enjoyed the conclusion!

**AnonymousIncognito**: Thank you for the high praise! I'm glad you enjoyed the first two chapters and hope the conclusion didn't disappoint =) Merry Christmas!


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